I am now back in our local tiny island after spending a week away from the hustle and bustle of repeated weekly task. Even though the trip was still somewhat related to work and I still had to engage most of the time during the day attending meetings and discussions, and spending time responding emails during the night, I feel much refreshed coming back to work, perhaps there are learning takeaways that I get during the trip which I can utilize.
During the past week, I also had the chance to dispose my addiction towards digital distraction away from the normal routine. Technology is so pervasive and everywhere in our lives that it can be difficult to put down your laptop or stop responding to the text messages in your phone once you get into the rhythm. I am glad I was able to do so during the trip.
My active approach to investing means that I usually would require frequent contact and checking the news on either the individual company itself or any big macroeconomic news on a much required basis than passive investing. At times, it does get to a point where it can get really tiring and taxing to the bodies, as much as I love the process of doing so. This makes me rather doubt if I am still going to do this 10 to 20 years from now.
During the week I was away, I realized that I didn’t have to do all those to sustain my active investment approach. I literally skipped all the macro news that happened during the week, stopped checking news and prices of the companies I owned and those in my watchlist, refrained myself from discussing on topics about investing and finance and many more. Okay, I did admit that I checked in for the quarterly performance on FCT but that was all about it. At the end of the day, I liked what I was doing and I think looking back perhaps investing is something that has taken over the majority of my life which is also a good thing because it makes me who I am today. But it does require some consideration especially moving on 10 to 20 years into the future.
A couple of fellow friends and bloggers (for example Lionel, Mr. 15hww) has started or recently switched their investing strategies based on simple portfolio allocation between stocks and bonds and for their stock components, they have advocated an ETF in favor to individual stock picking. I think the idea is rather straightforward and the purpose for doing so is they would rather spend their time on doing other things than researching individual companies which can be really taxing to the physical and mental. Perhaps this is something I would consider doing once I get to a stage where my other priorities would take over and I have lesser time to spend researching on individual companies. But let’s see where it takes me once I hit the future.
What about you? Do you spend most of the time engaging in investing activities? Would you change your strategies if you had other priorities that eats your time in the future?
Less analyzing. More investing?
Hi Uncle CW
More analyzing and less actioning on investing is preferred. That would mean im making all the correct decisions and nothing needs to be changed.
If you are a normal people, then you should invest in ETF, but I think you can slightly do more than that. Remember knowledge is compounding, if you switched to ETF, you are not compounding your knowledge
Hi Hippo
Thanks for sharing your views.
I agree very much on the latter regarding the compounding of knowledge which can be very key in the future. I think it is good to leverage on these as we learn about investing and the market cycle more do let me think about it again in the future.
Hi B, I think it is important to roll with a strategy that is congruent with your strengths and inclinations. Going with an entirely passive/automated approach may be too extreme and will you start feeling restless? It sounds to me you are looking for something in between what you previously did and what Lionel and 15HWW have done, e.g. by cutting down on the frequency in which you monitor the market, and see how much you can actually limit the amount of info you consume before your investment returns start to get compromised.
Hi Retailtrader
You can read my mind!!! Amazing.
Im actually thinking what would i do in the future rather than now. At least i can still leverage on those knowledge and friends or bloggers like yourself on things for discussion. Going passive is really taking a back seat about saving effort for doing all those and just getting the results required.
Hi B,
I enjoy prospecting for companies, that is the research heavy part. But once u bought into it, there is no real need to monitor it except perhaps during announcement or quarter results …
Prospectung is a luxury to me now.
Hence, there is nothing much to blog about this day. Even quarter review is quite meaningless because most of the direction of earnings would have been "predicted" during prospectung unless things go really wrong, again nothing much To blog about
Hi SI
I enjoy prospecting as well now but the bodies could probably take less of it once i hit the new old age (wink). It also really depends very much on how detailed is the research or prospecting going to be.
I like to keep up with every single developments for the companies i am vested in so that could tire me a lot. Luckily, i only have about 10 counters now. Cannot imagine if these were to double in numbers 🙁
Hi B,
In a way, I am glad that the digital world is very much of our modern lives. It is also one of the reasons why I am heavily vested in telcos. Furthermore, digital innovations are essential too.
On the other hand, we must not embrace it till the point of addiction.
I only read the financial results when they are released as I do enjoy analysing companies. Not a chore to me. 🙂
Hi Dividend Knight
I enjoyed it too as well, but I wanted more time for more important things in my life and I think once you get to the point where you have 3 kids to play with in the future, I think little matters anymore ;0
Hi B,
you already know what I will do. Priorities changed over time, but the fundamentals of a person, such as integrity, honesty, charisma etc is inherent.